Watch your step (story)
Original version It’s not that I am scared of the darkness. Neither am I scared of graveyards. I’m actually not even scared of graveyards in darkness. Yet I am very careful when I’m walking in the darkness nowadays, regardless of where I am. Not because I am scared. I am not the very least scared! But I am careful I suppose that I should introduce myself. I am Nathalie, and the reason for me to be… careful, is that I put myself in quite bad trouble once when I walked through a graveyard in the dark. I suppose I had the usual reason to take a shortcut through the graveyard. I was in a hurry, I did not like crowds and on the other side of the church was my granddad buried. It can’t be a dangerous place if grandpa is there, right? I had passed the really old gravestones, followed the gravel path to the right of the never baptised babies' small wooden crosses, and over the patch of grass where the cremated lay… Well, I don’t really know if they were buried or if someone just threw them out there – but the flowers were very pretty every spring and summer and now in November there was a constant scatter of candles in the center. The problem was when I was about to go out through the bushes that surrounded said patch of grass (which is not strictly speaking allowed, but a good shortcut). I got a sucking feeling in my stomach, like if someone was vacuum cleaning me through my bellybutton, and I felt ill. For a while my skin felt first very cold, then rapidly very hot. A bit like if I was taking a very fast elevator with a bad fever, but at the same time absolutely not. When the feeling disappeared was it like something else had disappeared at the same time. The graveyard. I don’t know how it is possible, not even today even though I've had it explained to me a number of times. The old stone church was gone. Instead I could see a crescent moon, almost hidden behind blinds of clouds. I could see stars too. You maybe guessed it already at the missing church, but I could have sworn that the night sky looked different than before. I should be able to see the Big Dipper, or at least the Virgin. I have always been a bit proud for learning how the two of them looked. From a distance I could hear loud voices screaming, and high-pitched calls that sounded like… like an animal in distress. Or raptors. When I think of it, it seems like raptor was a very good description. Suddenly, something came rushing against me. I had no time to see if it clearly, but It had long bony fingers that ended in sharp claws, and it threw me over it’s shoulder without even slowing down. In the darkness I felt more than saw a pair of enormous wings move as the ground disappeared under me. It wasn’t until the creature hissed at me to shut up I realized I had been screaming both high and shrill. After a seemingly endless timespan, spent in a very uncomfortable position, I was finally put down on a patch of wet grass. “Okay, surely humans have an easy fright, but didya have to scream like that? ” Uncapable to respond I stared at the creature. It had what appeared to be sheep horns growing out of its head. ”Not to be ill-mannered, but one could have thought that you never have seen a demon before.” He made a pause. “Have you seen a demon before?” I shook my head. ”N… no I have never- where are we? How did I get here?” He – his shirtless state made it quite obvious that it was a he – looked utterly distressed. ”So… that means you’re not the witch from the ISM?” I shook my head again. “Oooh… damn. You have no magical abilities at all?” More head shaking. My earlier questions seemed to have dried my throat from the ability to speak. The demon, by now I had realized that this was what he was, scratched the hair behind his horns. ”Tha’s no good. Actually it’s pretty bad. Even very bad.” He looked in the direction he had been running from. “In the best of cases she died. In the worst of case… Oh, no but – don’t look so frightened! Or are you cold? Well, I don’t blame you, it’s pretty chilly. Don’t cry! Maybe it should be you telling me how you got here? There, there – blow your nose in a clean corner.” He actually did offer me a rag that was supposed to resemble a handkerchief, and he considerately patted me on the back. For a demon, he didn’t seem to bad. His voice was hoarse and old, in contradiction to his face, which was thin but not aged as far as I could see. I liked his eyes, they looked a bit like the eyes of a cat I once had when I was little. Intelligent, but also very sharp. ”I… I took a shortcut through the graveyard in Idesta… and when I walked through some bushes I got here… or, I got in your way it seems. Sorry…” “Eh, no – don’t worry ‘bout it lass. Trust that Mechujarden takes you home again! Well, on detour, but sooner or later you’ll get there. What’s your name by the way?” ”Nathalie… your name was Mesjku… something?” ”Mechujarden, but I suppose you rather call me Jard?” ---- This happened almost a year ago, and I am still not home. Me and Jard could not return through the same passage I had gotten there, but instead we have (as already stated) taken detours on this journey. I have witnessed a whole lot of strange things, and a whole lot of demons. The funny thing is that they actually are quite charming, once you get to know them. Like the ‘monster’ in “Beauty and the Beast”, they aren't as bad as they look even if they can be very dangerous. Right now I’m writing from the state library in the magicians main capital. This is were ISM – that Jard talked about – have it’s headquarters. ISM stands for the Interwordly Society of Magicians, and hopefully they will be able to get me home. While Jard tries to come in contact with them, the magicians, I will write down some of what I’ve experienced. Like I said, I’ve seen a lot of strange things. Some have been fun, like when Jard tried to hypnotize fishes after he broke the fishing rod. Other things have been horrible, mainly when different creatures that have tried to eat me. Now at least I have learned my lesson. Be careful with were you put down your foot in the dark! Quest gone wrong Jard wished the sky had been just a little cloudier as he made another sweep over the hills. As much as the extra light of the stars and waning moon helped him see, it also made him more visible. He had already spotted, and nearly been spotted by, a flock of prowling reptilian semi-humanoids and he did not want them too close to the area where he was supposed to meet up with the totally-not-a-smuggler. Not that he hadn’t worked for smugglers before, it was quite a business to move artefacts and weapons from one world to another and Jard took pride in knowing some of the best routes around, but he had never before smuggled on the orders of some government, never mind the Interworldly Society of Magicians itself. The official story was that one of their employees (female witch, short hair and young, carrying a backpack) had accidentally ended up in an isolated world. Nothing strange with that, magical accidents happened all the time and rescue missions had to be issued constantly. However, there’s where it gets strange. One demon, under contract or not, does not a standard rescue expedition make and his contractors had suggested a route that would lead them through mainly uninhabited areas with little to no traffic. Additionally, the isolated world in question seemed to be some kind of quarantine area that shouldn’t even now be accessed by outsiders. Instead a timed one-way portal had been set up to this area. That begged the question, if the other world had that level of security and the witch (with convenient luggage) had ended up there by mistake, how had she gotten in contact with the Society to arrange this debacle? The whole thing reeked of hush-up. And on the subject of reeking, he’d have to gain some height again. The reptilian flock had moved and might pick up his scent in the wind. At the very least the weather was nice, the wind strong but not cold against the thin membrane of his wings as he circled the area where the witch was supposed to appear. While he had been informed of the exact time the witch would appear he had privately rounded it off to “between sunset and sunrise”. A flimsy excuse for a cloud briefly covered the moon, and just as it drifted off Jard saw her stumble out of a few bushes at the top of one of the hills. He made a sharp turn and folded his wings back, allowing the pull of the earth to do its trick. The flock of reptilians had caught scent of them already, judging by the screeches, so rather than stopping for introductions he just picked up the girl and slung her over his shoulder before taking off again. Not unexpectedly she wailed like a banshee. To throw of the reptilians he quickly ascended to relatively high altitudes and then took aim for a few trees across a nearby lake. By the time he touched down the wailing of the girl had died down to hiccupping gasps. As he put her down and gave her a once-over he came to the conclusion that that she must be younger than he had thought. Even by human standards she would be considered prepubescent, flat, frail and at least a head shorter than his contractor. With that in mind he took on his friendliest mien as he crouched to reach her face level. “That’s quite some lungs you have lass. I know humans are easily spooked, but you nearly blew my eardrums out.” Poor thing, Jard thought as the girl stared at him in apparent terror. In particular, it seemed she was looking back and forth between his horns. An uneasy feeling caught him. “No offence, but one might think that you haven’t ever seen a demon before.” He paused, but continued when she didn’t respond “Have you seen a demon before?” She shook her head in quick, jerky movements more akin to shudders without looking away from him. “No. No I’ve never. Where are we? How did I get here?” Jard felt the uneasy feeling grow and churn. Oh damn. “So, you are saying that you are not the witch from the ISM?” She shook her head again. Jard was increasingly aware that the reptilian monsters could still be from the hills beyond the lake. They should have moved on from there by now, even if just to trek around the lake. Jard cursed as calmly as he could manage in front of the girl. “You have no magical abilities at all?” She shook her head again, more confused than panicked now. “This is not good. Actually, it’s pretty bad.” Not to say an outright catastrophe. He looked out over the lake in the direction they came from. The damn monsters should have moved on. Unless, of course, some other prey had conveniently showed up. Perfect. Bloody perfect. He had gotten mixed up in some government-orchestrated illegal business and failed it completely because he couldn’t stop for an identity check. His contractors would have his horns on a wall for this. Trivia *I need to specify that Jard is now a winged demon, and devote a few lines to describe the surroundings, weather time of day, etc. *Later events in the story should include Nathalie's age (12) and the inconsistency between how grown up she perceives herself to be and how grown up Jard considers her to be. She, as a pre-teen who has started to have her periods, perceives herself as sexualy aware. Jard on the other hand considers her to be a child and as such a completely nonsexual being. *Jard has a lover who lives in Erifort. He works for a magician and was employed when that person was stationed in Traitor City. Could it be Khufu? It would be a neat tie-in, and Khufu would love the library of Erifort. This story has also been posted on *deviantart.com Category:Stories Category:All Pages Category:WIP Category:Needs a picture